The Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers runs a series of
lectures covering a wide range of topics. In the next instalment, Louise
Christian, solicitor and Liz
Davies, barrister will talk on Human rights in the civil courts.
(There should be more information on the Haldane Society's website, but as I
write this its website cannot be accessed as there are some problems
with the domain name renewal.)

The Convention on modern
liberty aims 'to bring together a wide and growing range of concerns
about the state of fundamental rights and freedoms in this country and
publicise the work of the many individuals, groups and organisations deeply
involved with them from across the political spectrum. We hope this
will generate a wider release of energy among the public that may
assist the growth of a movement to take back what has been lost and to
help shape a Modern Liberty capable of securing individual and
collective freedom at a time of profound uncertainty and change.'

It's a great opportunity. Over a thousand attendees are
expected at the main London event. And with more attending the
satellite events, it's a rare occasion to mobilise such a large crowd
on rights and freedom issues. It is a high profile event that has
already garnered lots of publicity in particular in The
Guardian, the main media partner (Henri Porter
is co-director of the event). With more than a hundred speakers,
you are bound to find some you consider worth listening to.

On the flip side, the programme
has too much happening in parallel, one can attend only one session in
the morning and one in the afternoon. Should one attend sessions they
already have some interest in or instead discover something completely
different? As these sessions are hopefully an opportunity to
participate, the former is the more likely choice. Then there's the
issue of cost,
it is expensive for an event wanting to attract a whole spectrum of
attendees. I queried this by email: 'I looked for info as to what the money
the event will collect will be used for but haven't found any such
explanation.' This wasn't directly answered, instead I learnt that
'Tickets are heavily subsidised. Concessionary tickets are
£20 and all tickets include a sandwich lunch and refreshments'.
In his launch speech,
Anthony Barnett, co-director of the Convention, made an appeal for
financial support while at the same time pointing out the generosity of
many professionals offering their service for free; and Henri Porter explained
'The Convention on Modern Liberty is for openness, reform,
accountability, scrutiny, trust and fun. It is against the fixing,
manipulation, suspicion, spin and self-serving edicts of the political
classes.' Why not then publish a summary budget? This would show some
transparency and accountability, and would help convince more
individuals to purchase tickets and/or donate.

A Carnival
on modern liberty was launched to
highlight some relevant blog posts in the run up to the Convention on
Modern Liberty. The first edition was published at Liberal
Conspiracy and the second at Our
Kingdom (thanks Tom to select one of my posts). Submit
a post to be included in a future edition.